A printer is a peripheral device connected to a computer that prints information from the computer onto a tangible medium, usually paper. In many configurations, the computer is connected directly to the computer in one location. Both the computer and the printer are in close proximity to each other and to the user. However, many other systems comprise printers that are connected to but located far from the computer. In these configurations, a computer can be shared on a network connected to a print server. Also, a printer can directly connect to the network by including a network interface card or the network interface in the printer, which allows the printer to run its own print server software and function as a regular network node. In a typical Windows environment, for example, the network printer is a one-way printer. For a one-way printer, the only communication path is from the host computer to the printer without any ability for the printer to notify the host computer of the job status such as whether the print job has been successfully completed.
Many corporations have printing networks in which one can print from anywhere to a remote printer. These networks allow a person to take advantage of the remote printing from home, especially if printing large documents, so that one can just pick them up at a later time. Although many print jobs are performed via a computer network, remote printing can leave the user in the dark with respect to its actual print status. However, there can be problems when the network printer is unable to complete the print job due to cases such as:                A paper jam        Unintended enormous document is being printed by someone else (requires calling helpdesk to delete the job, users do not have authority)        Printer goes off line and looses communication after print job started        Document printed out but after the first page the toner ink becomes low enough to degrade the print quality (barely readable) but passes the printer's low ink detection        Document printed but toner is not evenly distributed or unintentional lines exist causing poor print quality.From this, one can understand how an entire print job could have been sent to the printer, stored in the printer's buffer, and then disappear from the print job list. The user believes the print job is actually completed when in fact, it may be in limbo or completed with the poor quality.        
From a remote employee's perspective, these unexpected situations, errors, and essential information should have been communicated so the user who initiated the print job can take the appropriate action and not waste time (e.g., walking back and forth between office to printing room), and can perhaps save a trip from home to the office. In fact, the same notification should be sent to a printer support group helpdesk personnel so they can quickly respond and fix the problem. One reason why the user is notified of the print status in remote printing jobs is that the communication between the computer and the printer is a one-way communication from the computer to the printer. Most printers communicate problems to users via visual light displays on the actual printer that will illuminate to indicate some sort of problem with a print job. However, this information is known only to those in close enough proximity to view the printer LEDs. In addition, some personal computer systems with direct connections between the computer and the printer will alert a user via the terminal to some but not all printing problems.
Recently developed software programs have become available allowing the host systems or computers to communicate interactively with the network printers. With this capability, host resident printing software can accomplish tasks such as determining the configuration of the device automatically and reporting the status of a print job back to the submitting host or client system. U.S. Pat. No. 6,559,965 to Simpson et al. describes a method for establishing two-way communications between a host system and a device such as a computer printer.
In addition to the inability to inform the user of the status of a print job, many times the print job completely executes as intended. However, when the user arrives to retrieve the job, the user notices that the print quality is well below acceptable standards. This substandard print quality could be the result of the toner ink cartridge becoming low enough to degrade the print quality of the job. U.S. Pat. No. 6,523,920 to Wade et al., seeks to address this issue. This invention describes a method of improving print quality in a thermal ink jet printer by mounting a combination pen and optical scanner head on a carriage of a printer for reciprocation along a scan axis. A sheet of print media is propelled through the printer along a paper axis. A predetermined test pattern of dots of different ink colors is printed onto the print media using the combination pen and optical scanner head or another pen also mounted on the carriage. Predetermined dot position, dot size and/or spectral information is compiled by scanning the location, size and color of the dots of the test pattern using the combination pen and optical scanner head. Predetermined ink jet firing signals are corrected in accordance with pre-programmed parameters based on the compiled dot position, dot size and/or spectral information in order to improve print quality.
Although, there have been attempts to address various problems related to printing jobs from locations that are remote to the user, there still remains a need for a method, apparatus and system that can provide an efficient means to notify user of the status and quality of a print job at a remote location.